1971 Isle of Man TT


The 1971 Isle of Man TT was a motorcycle event held on 12 June 1971, on the 37-mile Snaefell Mountain course on the Isle of Man between Great Britain and Ireland. It was the third round of the F.I.M. 1971 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season.
The unbelievable happened in 1971 - Agostini's MV broke down on the first lap of the Junior. The crowd cheered when it was announced that the Italian had stopped at Ramsey with engine problems. His demise produced a dramatic race in which many of the favourites either crashed or broke down.
Yamaha's Phil Read led Alan Barnett, Rod Gould and Dudley Robinson at the end of the first lap. Gould then crashed at Quarterbridge, but continued. On lap three Barnett came off at Glen Helen, and a lap later Read retired with engine problems. With one lap to go Robinson led Yorkshireman Tony Jefferies, riding a Yamsel, but he crashed at Rhencullen, so Jefferies came home with 37 seconds to spare from newcomers Gordon Pantall, with Bill Smith third.
Agostini had no such problems in the Senior, which was postponed by a day because of bad weather. Despite spending nearly two minutes in the pits to rectify carburation problems, he won comfortably from Peter Williams and Frank Perris on a Suzuki.
The Yamaha twins dominated the 250cc race, which was reduced to four laps. Phil Read led all the way when his main challenger Peter Williams's MZ expired at the end of the first lap. Barry Randle and Alan Barnett completed a Yamaha clean sweep.
Barry Sheene made his one and only TT appearance in the 125cc race, but slipped off his Suzuki at Quarterbridge on the second lap while lying second in appalling conditions. The race was won by Chas Mortimer, riding a Yamaha, at the slowest 125cc average on the Mountain Course since 1953.
A new three-lap Formula 750 race was introduced to provide a class to accommodate the popular British 750cc racing machines. Tony Jefferies led throughout on a works Triumph after a splendid battle with the BSA of Ray Pickrell and the Norton of Peter Williams.
Pickrell gained revenge in the 750cc class of the Production race. Riding a Triumph, he was involved in a tremendous duel with Williams until the Norton stopped on the third lap at the Bungalow. Pickrell was a comfortable winner from Jefferies and the BSA of Bob Heath. John Williams and Bill Smith brought Honda success in both the 500 and 250cc classes with dominant victories.
Siggi Schauzu won his fifth TT after a superb duel with BMW teammate George Auerbacher in the World Championship sidecar race. Earlier in the week Auerbacher had secured his first TT victory in the 750cc sidecar event after ten years of trying. Schauzu broke the lap record from a standing start but dropped out on the second lap.

1971 Isle of Man Lightweight TT 125cc final standings

3 Laps Mountain Course.
PlaceRiderNumberCountryMachineSpeedTimePoints
1 Chas MortimerUnited KingdomYamaha83.91 mph1:20.54.015
2 Börje JanssonSwedenMaico81.83 mph1:23.43.612
3 John KiddieUnited KingdomHonda76.14 mph1:29.12.210
4 Peter CourtneyUnited KingdomYamaha75.92 mph1:29.28.28
5 Nev WattsUnited KingdomHonda75.70 mph1:29.43.66
6 C.WardUnited KingdomMaico74.14 mph1:30.23.65
7 F.C. SmartUnited KingdomHonda74.96 mph1.30.36.64
8 Lindsay PorterUnited KingdomHonda73.99 mph1.31.48.23
9 Bill RaeUnited KingdomMaico73.19 mph1.32.48.42
10 John PearsonUnited KingdomBultaco72.97 mph1.33.05.01
DNF Barry SheeneUnited KingdomSuzuki

1971 Isle of Man Lightweight TT 250cc final standings

4 Laps Mountain Course.
PlaceRiderNumberCountryMachineSpeedTimePoints
1 Phil ReadBritainYamaha98.02 mph1:32.23.315
2 Barry RandleBritainYamaha93.75 mph1:34.27.612
3 Alan BarnettBritainYamaha95.09 mph1:35.02.010
4 Rod GouldBritainYamaha95.09 mph1:35.14.08
5 Bill HendersonBritainYamaha94.32 mph1:36.01.26
6 Gyula MarsovskySwitzerlandYamaha94.04 mph1:36.18.05
7 Peter BerwickUnited KingdomYamaha93.65 mph1:36.42.64
8 Ian RichardsUnited KingdomYamaha93.47 mph1:36.53.43
9 Börje JanssonSwedenYamasaki93.39 mph1:36.50.02
10 Gordon PantallUnited KingdomYamaha93.35 mph1:37.00.81

1971 Isle of Man Junior TT 350cc final standings

5 Laps Mountain Course.
PlaceRiderNumberCountryMachineSpeedTimePoints
1 Tony JefferiesUnited KingdomYamsel89.81 mph2:05.48.615
2 Gordon PantallUnited KingdomYamaha89.55 mph2:06.25.012
3 Bill SmithUnited KingdomHonda89.81 mph2:07.40.810
4 John WilliamsUnited KingdomAJS88.94 mph2:07.17.08
5 Mick ChattertonUnited KingdomYamaha87.38 mph2:09.33.66
6 Gerry MateerUnited KingdomAermacchi87.18 mph2:09.51.85
7 Mick GrantUnited KingdomYamaha86.50 mph2:28.30.64
8 Billy GuthrieUnited KingdomYamaha86.31 mph2:11.09.03
9 Günter BartuschEast GermanyMZ86.15 mph2:11.24.22
10 Peter BerwickUnited KingdomSuzuki85.90 mph2:11.47.21

1971 Isle of Man Senior TT 500cc final standings

6 Laps Mountain Course.
PlaceRiderNumberCountryMachineSpeedTimePoints
1 Giacomo AgostiniItalyMV Agusta102.49 mph2:12.24.415
2 Peter WilliamsUnited KingdomMatchless98.40 mph2:18.03.012
3 Frank PerrisUnited KingdomSuzuki96.51 mph2:20.45.410
4 Selwyn GriffithsUnited KingdomMatchless95.03 mph2:22.57.48
5 Gordon PantallUnited KingdomKawasaki95.02 mph2:22.57.66
6 Roger SutcliffeUnited KingdomMatchless94.38 mph2:23.56.25
7 Keith TurnerUnited KingdomSuzuki94.08 mph2:24.23.24
8 Charlie SanbyUnited KingdomSeeley93.04 mph2:26.00.83
9 Tom DickieUnited KingdomMatchless92.82 mph2:26.21.22
10 Hans-Otto ButenuthGermanyBMW92.81 mph2:26.21.81

1971 Isle of Man Sidecar 500cc TT final standings

3 Laps Mountain Course.
PlaceRiderNumberCountryMachineSpeedTimePoints
1 Siegfried Schauzu/W.KalauchWest GermanyBMW86.21 mph1:18.47.615
2 Georg Auerbacher/H.HahnWest GermanyBMW86.10 mph1:18.53.212
3 Arsenius Butscher/J.HuberWest GermanyBMW81.31 mph1:23.32.610
4 Jeff Gawley/G.AlcockUnited KingdomYamaha80.22 mph1:24.40.88
5 Richard Wegener/A.HeinrichsWest GermanyBMW80.15 mph1:24.44.66
6 Chris Vincent/M.CaseyUnited KingdomBSA79.19 mph1:25.40.65
7 Dick Hawes & J.P.MannUnited KingdomSeely76.37 mph1:28.56.24
8 Robin Williams & Jack McPhersonUnited KingdomTriumph75.47 mph1:30.00.63
9 J.Mines & G.DavisUnited KingdomMatchless75.25 mph1:30.46.02
10 Peter Brown & F.HoldenUnited KingdomBSA74.62 mph1:31.01.81

Non-championship races

1971 Isle of Man Production 750 cc TT final standings

3 Laps Mountain Course.
RankRiderTeamSpeedTime
1 Ray PickrellTriumph100.07 mph1:30.30.2
2 Tony JefferiesTriumph98.38 mph1:30.03.0
3 Bob HeathBSA97.08 mph1:33.17.4
4 Hans-Otto ButenuthBMW93.75 mph1:36.36.0
5 David NixonTriumph93.02 mph1:37.21.0
6 B.J.ClarkNorton92.97 mph1:37.24.6
7 Tom DickieBMW91.08 mph1:39.26.0
8 Keith HecklesNorton86.11 mph1:45.10.8
9 Tony AndersonBMW85.81 mph1:45.32.0
10 Peter DarvillHonda80.51 mph1:52.29.4

1971 Isle of Man Production 500 cc TT final standings

3 Laps Mountain Course.
RankRiderTeamSpeedTime
1 John WilliamsHonda91.04 mph1:39.28.8
2 Graham PennyHonda89.09 mph1:41.39.6
3 A.T.CooperSuzuki86.63 mph1:44.32.8
4 Graham BaileySuzuki86.42 mph1:44.47.8
5 Tom LoughridgeSuzuki85.34 mph1:46.07.4
6 Martyn AshwoodSuzuki85.34 mph1:46.07.6
7 Danny ShimminSuzuki84.39 mph1:47.21.6
8 P.JonesSuzuki81.67 mph1:50.53.2
9 Bill MilneKawasaki80.55 mph1:52.26.0

1971 Isle of Man Sidecar 750cc TT final standings

3 Laps Mountain Course.
RankRiderTeamSpeedTime
1 Georg Auerbacher/H.HahnBMW86.86 mph1.18.12.0
2 A.J.Samson/D.A.JoseTriumph82.50 mph1.22.20.2
3 R.Williamson/J.McPhersonWeslake82.25 mph1.23.50.0
4 R.Woodhouse/D.WoodhouseHonda81.91 mph1.22.55.0
5 D.Wood/D.CoomberNorton81.19 mph1.23.39.8
6 D.Plummer/M.BrettTriumph80.77 mph1.24.05.6
7 B.Currie/M.ScottTriumph80.60 mph1.24.16.2
8 M.Potter/P.J.BurleighBSA80.18 mph1.24.43.4
9 D.Hawes/J.P.MannSeeley80.09 mph1.24.48.6
10 A.Methersill/M.MitchinsonAMS79.52 mph1.25.24.8

1971 Isle of Man Production 250 cc TT final standings

3 Laps Mountain Course.
RankRiderTeamSpeedTime
1 Bill SmithHonda84.14 mph1:47.43.6
2 Charlie WilliamsYamaha84.04 mph1:47.52.0
3 Tommy RobbHonda82.49 mph1:49.47.6
4 Peter BerwickSuzuki81.27 mph1:51.26.4
5 Gordon DanielsSuzuki81.09 mph1:51.41.4
6 Lindsay PorterSuzuki79.14 mph1:54.26.6
7 Roy SimmonsSuzuki76.53 mph1:58.20.0
8 Jim EvansMontesa74.44 mph2:01.20.8
9 Bill BarkerHonda72.25 mph2:05.21.0

1971 Isle of Man Formula 1 750 cc TT final standings

3 Laps Mountain Course.
RankRiderTeamSpeedTime
1 Tony JefferiesTriumph102.85 mph1:06.02.0
2 Ray PickrellBSA102.81 mph1:06.28.0
3 Peter WilliamsNorton101.22 mph1:07.06.2
4 B.J.ClarkYamaha96.76 mph1:10.12.0
5 Dudley P.RobinsonYamaha96.39 mph1:10.28.2
6 David NixonTriumph95.64 mph1:11.01.0
7 Bill SmithKawasaki95.37 mph1:11.13.2
8 Tom DickieBMW92.38 mph1:13.31.4
9 Peter DarvillHonda85.81 mph1:13.44.6
10 Charlie DobsonNorton91.67 mph1:14.06.0